While most people are trying to avoid the perils
of this year's hurricanes, beginning today NASA scientists will
be flying right into them!

August
16, 2001 -- As this year's hurricane season rolls in, a team
of researchers participating in a NASA study is waiting. Armed
with airplanes, robotic aerial vehicles, and a fleet of sophisticated
instruments, they're ready to meet these potentially deadly storms
head-on -- gathering data vital to improve hurricane modeling
and prediction.

They're part of the Convection And Moisture
EXperiment (CAMEX-4)
-- the fourth in a series of field research investigations sponsored
by NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise. The mission unites researchers from 10 universities,
five NASA centers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA).

Above: Hurricanes are the largest
storm systems on Earth, with winds sometimes reaching a devastating
320 km/h (200 mph)! Scientists will use the data gathered by
CAMEX-4 to improve their hurricane modeling and prediction abilities,
which in turn will help save property and lives. This image of
Hurricane Elana was taken from the shuttle in 1985.

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Based at the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville, Florida,
this year's mission will run from August 16th through September
24 -- traditionally the most active part of the hurricane season.
During CAMEX-4, researchers will gather storm data from multiple
sources, including aircraft, unpiloted aerial vehicles, satellite
observations and ground-based radar. Unique in this mission is
the fact that each storm will be monitored simultaneously from
near sea level to 65,000 feet.

Temperature, pressure, humidity, precipitation, wind speed,
lightning and ice crystal sizes are examples of the kinds of
information that will be collected. These data are expected
to provide additional insight to hurricane researchers and forecasters
who continually strive to improve our understanding of these
storms.

"One reason NASA studies hurricanes is to understand
the best way to use information from NASA resources, such as
its satellites, to provide better warnings to the American public
and people around the world affected by hurricanes," said
Robbie Hood, CAMEX mission scientist from the Marshall Space
Flight Center's jointly-sponsored Global
Hydrology and Climate Center.

Below: NASA's ER-2 high-altitude research
airplane will be used in CAMEX-4 to gather scientific data from
high above the storms. The resemblance to the U-2 is not a coincidence
-- the ER-2 is a non-military variant of the famous military
spy plane.

"During the last CAMEX mission in 1998, we flew over
hurricanes and collected a vast amount of data, sampling the
hurricanes' upper regions at altitudes of 35,000 feet (10,600
meters) or higher," said Hood. "This year, we're asking
ourselves additional questions, such as, 'How does a hurricane
intensify?' and, 'What is its rainfall potential after it comes
to shore?' The highest number of hurricane-related deaths are
due to inland flooding, so inland rainfall is something we will
be monitoring very closely."

The CAMEX team plans to fly into the season's hurricanes aboard
two NASA planes, the ER-2
and DC-8,
both from NASA's Dryden
Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Carrying a
series of instruments, these aircraft will fly over, through,
and around selected hurricanes as they approach landfall in the
Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and along the east coast of the United
States.

Left: CAMEX-4 will be based out of Jacksonville,
Florida, and will study storms near the U.S. East Coast, the
Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, which are prime targets for
hurricanes during hurricane season. Click on image for a

The DC-8, equipped with instruments that will measure the
storms' structures, environments and changes in intensity and
direction, will fly into storms at 35,000 to 40,000 feet (10,700
to 12,200 meters). At the same time, the specially equipped
ER-2, a high-altitude research plane, will soar above storms
at 65,000 feet (19,800 meters).

NASA is also funding the flight of several unpiloted aerial
vehicles called Aerosonde
Robotic Aircraft, managed in conjunction with the University
of Colorado at Boulder. Small, robotic aircraft designed for
collection of meteorological data over oceans and remote areas,
the Aerosondes will operate over the North Atlantic Ocean taking
observations in the lower atmosphere. In the first use of
unpiloted aircraft in an operation of this type, the Aerosondes
will skim the ocean surface collecting data on atmospheric temperature,
pressure, relative humidity, and winds -- data that cannot be
obtained by any other method.

Although investigating hurricanes is the primary objective
of CAMEX-4, separate flights will study thunderstorm structure,
precipitation systems, and atmospheric water vapor profiles.

This
portion of CAMEX-4 is known as the Keys Area Microphysics
Project (KAMP).
The project seeks improved precipitation estimates from passive
and active microwave instruments -- equipment that detects precipitation
and surface water by measuring natural microwave emissions from
cloud water, cloud ice, rainfall and surface water. Flights for
the microphysics project will be approximately 300 nautical miles
(560 km) from Key West, Florida.

Right: This image shows precipitation
measurements made of Hurricane Bonnie by the Advanced Microwave
Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) aboard the ER-2 aircraft during
the CAMEX-3 campaign in 1998. Scientists can use data like this
to improve their understanding of hurricanes' dynamics. Click
on the image for a

Sitting in the path of these violent storms and even flying
into their windy hearts is certainly a dangerous job, but because
of these storm chasers, people in the future will be better informed
about when and where hurricanes are going to strike.

The hurricane study is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise,
a long-term research program dedicated to better understanding
the total Earth system and the effects of natural and human-induced
changes on our global environment.

What Lies Beneath a Hurricane -- Science@NASA article: Two orbiting
NASA satellites are giving scientists an unprecedented view of
what goes on beneath the obscuring cloud tops of great swirling
storms.

The Last Hurricane -- Science@NASA article: CAMEX-3
team wrapping up campaign with flights into Georges